Pirate Ship and Air Cannon Carnival Game

What started out as a simple stomp-rocket style air cannon carnival game for my Son's school fair turned into another one of my overzealous project undertakings. The end result was a very fun and popular compressed air powered cannon and pirate ship with electronic explosion sounds.

Step 1: PVC components

I started by test fitting the original cannon barrel PVC schedule 40 components. The cardboard tube is a Lava Lamp's packaging. The cannon balls are yellow foam practice golf balls from the local department store. I took one to the hardware store and found that it fit snugly inside a 1.5" PVC tube. The 'T' fitting has a 1" leg that I fit an additional reducer into it that accepted the knurled brass fitting for the rubber air supply tube.

Comments

[aaronXtreme]

hey this is cool.

[DELETED_explosionist]

(removed by author or community request)

[rickgyver]

Thanks. We use it almost every year for our Son's school carnival

[Bartboy]

So what you do is aim the cannon at the pirate ship then shoot it?

[rickgyver]

Yes. They each had three shots. If a cannon ball went into one of the holes they got to pick one of the large prizes. If they knocked over three pirate targets they also got a large prize. One or two knocked over targets was a medium and all others got a small prize.

[Bartboy]

what if they knock over the whole ship?

[Rotten194]

Then the ship knocks them back.

[droid]

Very cool. I know exactly what you mean by 'overzealous building project'! To use up even more time, you could convert Davy Jones' Locker into a hand-pumped pressuriser (give the kids some exercise!). Could your electronics buddy modify his circuit to include a release that allows the mast to fall? (i know, I know; you've spent to much time on it already)

[rickgyver]

The electronics were also going to trigger flashing lights and a fan to blow up through a hole in the deck that was to have a 'fabric fire' like some halloween decorations. He was having problems with the circuit though. The mast falling is a great idea. Maybe for next year.

[rainescorn]

i'm having a hard time finding someone to do the electronics part. is there a schematic for this part?

[SarahMichelle]

Simply AWESOME!!!!

[halo99]

how much was all this? i'm gonna make this for halloween with skeletons you shoot at!

[rickgyver]

I had a lot of the supplies already at home but if I had to purchase everything I'm guessing it would have cost around $75. The cannon itself would have been around $60.

[janquito]

Very cool! I'm glad you gave us a preview on the videos.

[bounty1012]

You need to put a picture of a pirate inside the ships damaged parts that would be a good touch. Overall this is cool.

[teamcoltra]

What was the approx cost of the parts?

[rickgyver]

I had all of the wood around the garage and the muslin cloth for the sails so the PVC pipe and glue, paint, shelf lining contact paper, plaster cloth covering, rings and straps all came to around $60 or so. The air tank and blow gun were loaners. The electronic components were also donated.

[Mach5]

Have you ever heard of Brill's Plans? A.K. Brill created a bunch of plans for carnival games and rides. He died years ago but a couple of people sell copies of his plans on ebay. I thought you might find them interesting.

[pyrocop1]

Here is an old magazine that has some neat articles about scams in the carnivals around the 1930's Modernmexhanix.com. It is pretty fun to read with some pics also

[rickgyver]

Thanks - I'll look them up! BTW, I'm working on a full blown Halo 3 Master Chief costume for my Son for Halloween - look for my Instructable on that next month.

[janquito]

oooo, my sons would love a Halo 3 Master Chief costume! I will be sure to check for that!

[jnixon]

Man, that is really elaborate! Awesome!

[shadowninja31]

Nice!

[Brennn10]

Fantastic mod! This looks like a really fun game!

[The Urban Spaceman]

That is pretty damn cool.